Fair enough. I apologize for the name calling.
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- Thread starter M.L. Martin
- Start date
Fair enough. I apologize for the name calling.
Ahh, my bad. Though Paizo is a slightly different situation due to being OGL bound, and thus having to have the majority of their rules for free online. I could see WotC being a little more cautious initially, then lowering the price.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
If they're successful with an initial online offering, I doubt they'll reduce the price. Why would they? They're making more money with the successful, more expensive option.
Paizo made a bold move in offering their rulebooks as PDFs for a small price and, personally, I think that was a good move. They haven't stopped their books from hitting the pirate sites, but I know of a number of players who like to do the right thing, have limited budgets, and have refused the torrent temptation and been able to buy the Pathfinder PDFs because of those low prices. I hope that there are enough similar gamers out there to validate the risk Paizo took. The point of this is - it's ridiculously easy to do the wrong thing and download the pirate versions of the PDFs and Paizo responded to that by reducing the difficulties associated with doing the right thing. I don't really expect WotC to follow suit, but I'd be thrilled if they did and I almost certainly would buy the print copy of the PH as well as a roughly $10 PDF version.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
Ultimately, this depends on how tight your budgets are. If you paid $50 for another game's core book, that's $50 you no longer have to spend on the 5e PH. And, yes, that may not be entirely about expense since you've apparently prioritized the other game over D&D, but that's hardly some kind of nefarious or disingenuous agenda. I may want to own both the PF Core Rulebook and the 5e PH, but their expenses keep me from buying both - so now I must prioritize - while if the PH came in about $10-15 lower, I might have an easier time squeezing it in.
Savage Wombat
Hero
I have a suspicion that this is less about "$X is a lot of money" and more about "I was expecting price $X, and this is price $X+Y. WotC is ripping us off."
In that case, the Pathfinder comparison becomes most relevant - if Paizo can give us a book of good size for $40 (and I'm thinking recent books here, not the core) the new PH should have something added to justify the cost - page count, better quality binding, supporting material, something.
In that case, the Pathfinder comparison becomes most relevant - if Paizo can give us a book of good size for $40 (and I'm thinking recent books here, not the core) the new PH should have something added to justify the cost - page count, better quality binding, supporting material, something.
This!
If Paizo can give us a thick book of great quality for a reasonable price then so can Wotc.
dracomilan
Explorer
All this B&N thing seems to me more and more a pricing strategy survey.
if this is the case, WotC marketing has hired a genius.
if this is the case, WotC marketing has hired a genius.
Maggan
Writer for CY_BORG, Forbidden Lands and Dragonbane
For me, WotC developing a new system from the ground up is enough added to explain the price difference. Paizo had an incredible head start with 3.5, and didn't have to recoup the costs of creating Pathfinder from scratch. This should influence the cost of selling the system, as well as the physical qualities of the book.
So I think the answer to the question "what costs do company X have to recoup?" is very different when considering costs for Core Rules for Pathfinder and D&D.
/Maggan
fantasmamore
Explorer
Well, I believe that they both made a playtest before releasing their products to the public, even though I admit that I don't know the duration (or even the process) of Paizo's one. However, there are a lot of factors that shape the final price. I am willing to pay more if some of them apply.
4e was printed in the U.S. Even though I live in Europe and both US and China are equally far from my country, I could pay more for a product, knowing that it supports the local economy. I could pay more for a book, knowing that the company pays better its writers and artists. Of course, I wouldn't pay more just because the company wants a greater (unjustified) margin of profit.
What I want to say is, that it's not just the 5 - 10 dollars that will make me buy or not a product, and I have a very (extremely I'd say) tight gaming budget. I may buy less products if they are expensive or buy them at a much slower rate. I will also buy them from my local flgs knowing that I will pay more than ordering from an online store, supporting the same people that introduced me to my first D&D, 20 years ago. I really hope that I will visit them one day with my own son and introduce him to the game that I loved when I was his age.
So, it's not about the money. It's the quality where I base my choice. Will I like the system, the drawings, the fluff? That's what's more important for me...
(Sorry for my english)
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I even add that i'm ready to pay more than 50$ if the book does not need 3 errata ...
